How to Remove Stencil Inks

Stencil inks are easy to remove.

Stencils are tools used for tracing out or drawing images and patterns. Applied on fabrics such as cotton, silk and linen, the stencils make use of different types of inks including water-based inks, spray stencil inks and environmentally friendly inks that come in different colors. For decades, people have used stencil paintings to color clothes and to illustrate books. Screen printing and mimeography are other processes that make use of stencils. Sometimes, however, you might need to remove stencil inks, an exercise that you need to handle with care.

Things You'll Need

• Stencil tape
• Water
• Inhibited alkali immersion cleaner
• Fire
• Container
• Cloth

Instructions

1. Remove the stencil tape from the surface carefully when you finish with the application of a stencil design. Make sure the tape does not distort the design as you remove the tape.

2. Combine approximately 22.05 to 60 g per liter of cold water with any type of inhibited alkali immersion cleaner. This mixture is very powerful in removing many types of inks.

3. Heat the mixture to a temperature of 71 to 88 degrees centigrade or 160 to 190 Fahrenheit and put the parts containing stencil ink inside for a period of five to 10 minutes. The process of breaking the ink will take place.

4. Clean the design with a clean dry piece of cloth. All the stencil inks are now gone and you have a clean stencil design.

References

• Screen Printing: Stencil Removal & Screen Reclaiming
• Google Docs: Oakite 61B